Have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our God’s only begotten son, Jesus the Messiah
Love, Carolyn.
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Sunday, December 21, 2025
HONORING GOD, JESUS, AND EACH OTHER
HONORING GOD,
JESUS, AND EACH OTHER
At a Christmas party many years ago, I was honored with a
special hardhat and a $1000 travel voucher, for ten years of continuous service
as a mural painter and faux finisher. I had no idea I was getting it, so the
blessing was especially sweet.
Since my best friend Jane passed away recently, I was
thinking a lot about how to honor her life. I wanted to do something to honor her
for being such a blessing to me all those years we were roommates and best
friends.
She carried many spiritual anointings that I benefitted
from, and I felt that God was saying to me that He didn’t want those anointings
to be lost to the world. So, I felt the best way to honor Jane would be to make
sure the wonderful anointings she had didn’t go missing, so I asked God: “Could
I have a double portion of Jane’s anointings like You gave Elisha when Elijah
passed away?” And He showed me that His answer was “Yes, you can!”
I was astonished, but within just a day or so after I
asked, I found that I was exhibiting some spiritual anointings that I’d never
experienced before. I had new wisdom in the natural and the spiritual, like
Jane did. I had the ability to speak easily “off the cuff”; it just rolled out,
where as before, I was a person who mulled things over and had difficulty
speaking clearly and easily on the spur of the moment. But Jane could.
Jane had a very close relationship with God that she
called “the portal.” She said God would open the windows of Heaven, like it
says in Malachi 3:10 (the portal), and He would give her something to pray
about. She immediately prayed it back to Him through the open portal, and
almost immediately the answer came—within a day or two, at most, a week! I’ve
been experiencing that like an automatic rifle going off with so many rounds so
fast I can barely keep up!! There’s more, and I know it sounds a little weird,
but the things of God that sound weird are often the supernatural things that
He has already told us about in His Word, but maybe we thought that they couldn’t
happen to us. But they do!
The shepherds in the hills around Bethlehem got an
amazing visitation by a host of angels. They were honored for their believing
in the coming Messiah, and the angels honored them by telling them to go and
see for themselves. They were among the very first to witness the Christ child!
The shepherds went to honor God after they experienced
the visitation of the angels. Then God honored them, bringing them into the
presence of Mary, Joseph, and the baby who was the one prophesied about
throughout the Old Testament as the Messiah, the son of God coming into the
world to save those who would believe.
The shepherds were “abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). The angel of the Lord came and told them
that they were in the right place at the right time and it was to them that
this blessing had come.
How often are we going about our normal routines,
endeavoring to do God’s will the best we can, and all of a sudden, we meet
someone new who really blesses our lives? Or we’re inspired to get in a certain
grocery line and end up blessing a total stranger? We end up in the right place
at the right time to either be blessed or be a blessing. Hebrews 13:2 even
tells us we should “be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby
some have entertained angels unawares.”
That’s what happened to the shepherds. They were in the
hills by Bethlehem and that’s where God wanted them. The angel of God found
them and told them the good news. “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon
them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord” (Luke 2: 9-11).
This event brought “glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men” (v.14). The shepherds went down into the
city of Bethlehem to witness this for themselves.
The Bible doesn’t say anything about them honoring Jesus
with physical gifts like the wise men did later on, but the shepherds honored
Jesus by telling people what the angel told them and what they actually
witnessed themselves. That’s how they honored God—by telling other people about
the great things God did and that they had witnessed the baby who was the
prophesied Messiah!
“And when they [the shepherds] had seen it, they made
known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And
all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the
shepherds. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all
the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:
17,18 and 20).
Gift-giving originated with God too. Right after God
created Adam, He gave him a gift. “And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the
ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good
for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2: 8-9).
The idea of honoring God and others, came straight from
our creator and has happily invaded all cultures of the world.
This Christmas let’s think about honoring each with our
gifts and our respect. And most of all, let’s give some special attention to
how we can honor God and our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Love, Carolyn
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Sunday, December 14, 2025
"FOR GOODNESS SAKE"
“FOR GOODNESS SAKE”
My grandma would say, “Oh, for goodness sake” when she
thought someone was making too big of a deal over something, or being overly
critical of someone. “For goodness sake, stop talking like that.” What seemed
to be just a saying, is straight from the Bible. It is for the sake of God’s
goodness to us and in us, that we need to be less critical of others and
ourselves as well.
There was a guy at work that was starting to really annoy
me. He just didn’t ever seem to pay attention to the directions we were given. I
asked Fred, “How do you handle this guy who can’t seem to remember things from
minute to minute?” He replied, “It’s easy. When I see that his mind is
wandering, I alert him, get his eyes focused on me and remind him of what we’re
doing. And he answers, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right,’ and we carry on.” Wow! He made
it sound so easy, and for him it was. Fred was a perfect example of what the
goodness of God is like.
In Exodus 33:18 Moses asks God: “I beseech thee, show me
thy glory.” “And the LORD [Jehovah] said unto Moses, I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee
by name” (Exod.33:17).
But instead of the Lord showing Moses the fanfare, the
bells and whistles, and spectacular fireworks, he said: “I will make all my
goodness pass before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (v. 19). And that’s just what
Fred did with our co-worker; he showed graciousness and mercy: God’s goodness.
There are so many great examples in the Bible of God’s
goodness. In 1 Kings 8:65 to 66 shows us that God’s goodness extended into a
14-day feast! And after the feast, “he sent the people away: and they thanked
the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the
goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his
people.” The goodness of God included substance. In this case, food, merriment,
music, dancing, and joyful thanksgiving for all God had done for His people.
Another example of God’s goodness is more like what I had
seen at work. Here we see in action how David treated Saul as an individual.
God’s goodness is overflowing in mercy. Saul had been given instructions from
God, but Saul didn’t follow through and ended up opening his mind to a demon.
The only thing that brought Saul back to his right mind was music.
Saul’s servants found David, who could play the harp.
“And it came to pass, when the evil spirit was upon Saul, that David took a
harp, and played with his hand: So Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the
evil spirit departed from him” (1 Sam. 16:23).
David was called on to play for Saul many times, but as
the demon took over more and more of Saul’s mind, he got jealous of David and
this is what happened:
“And David played with his hand, as at other times: and
there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I
will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his
presence twice” (1 Sam. 18:10-11). David was good to Saul in spite of Saul’s
mental case. He stayed merciful and good to Saul until he couldn’t stay any
longer.
The last time Saul tried to kill David with the javelin,
“the evil spirit was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his
hand: and David played. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with
the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the
javelin into the wall: and David fled and escaped that night” (1 Sam. 19:9-10).
As it turns out, Saul was so mad that he got his troops
together and chased after David to kill him. David always escaped. Then at one
point when Saul and his three thousand men were camped for the night, David and
his friend Abishai snuck up on them. Abishai wanted to kill Saul.
But David said, “Destroy him not; for who can stretch
forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” (1 Sam. 26:9).
“David said furthermore, ‘As the Lord liveth the Lord
shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle,
and perish. But I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster,
and the cruse of water, and let us go” (1 Sam 26:10-11).
David was convinced of the goodness of God and he would
not kill one who God had made king. But he did take Saul’s spear and water to
show him later that he could have killed him if he wanted to.
Saul finally came to his right mind and must have rebuked
one of the devils that was controlling him: “Then said Saul, ‘I have sinned:
return my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was
precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred
exceedingly” (1 Sam. 26:21).
What an amazing lesson for us. In the New Testament Paul
prays for us: “That our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil
all the good pleasure of HIS GOODNESS” (2 Thess. 1:11).
WOW! It’s our duty, privilege, and blessing to exhibit God’s goodness to
people.
We never know the extent of trouble or grief a person is
going through. 1 Corinthians 2:11 says: “For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Cor. 2:11). So, making an
effort to be kinder is a good thing. Being less critical is a good thing.
Better to err on the side of goodness. The LORD will
show us if, or when we need to stop.
And it’s good to be gentler and kinder to ourselves as
well. Sometimes we could be going through things we’re not even fully aware of.
No matter how we’ve been in the past, or even yesterday, we can be as full of
the goodness of God as we allow right now. We can let Him fill us up with His
goodness and distribute that goodness to others.
The examples I gave are just two of the ways God exhibits
His goodness, and I’m sure you can find many more examples as well. Here we saw
goodness in the form of mercy like with my work friend, Moses, and David with
Saul, and we saw an example of the substance kind of goodness with God
providing an amazing, over the top feast for His people in 1 Kings 8:65-66.
Like it says in Romans 2:4: “Or despisest thou the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” It’s His goodness that brought Him
to us and His goodness that brought us to Him. Let’s be the bearers of His
goodness, “full of goodness” (Rom. 15:14) and spread it around.
Love, Carolyn
Thinking about what to give someone for Christmas?
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Sunday, December 7, 2025
JEHOVAH-JIREH, HE SEES AND PROVIDES
JEHOVAH-JIREH, HE SEES AND PROVIDES
When I opened up my new box of Christmas cards, the thing
that struck my heart the loudest was in the verse on the inside, Luke 2:7: “And
she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.”
“No room for them in the inn”?!! Even though Mary was
obviously ready to give birth, no one offered them a room, or traded them
sleeping quarters, or even room to share—not much empathy there for a very
pregnant mother!
No room for them. The majority of Hebrew people who
showed up in Bethlehem to pay taxes were housed, comfortable, warm, and had
provisions, but the holy couple were alone, and treated as strangers. Joseph
and Mary knew who they were, knew their special gifts; had not the angel of God
come to Mary and tell her she had a very special anointing, to birth the Christ
child?! And yet so very few even recognized who they were.
Maybe you’ve felt like that at times; not honored? unrecognized?
alone? Even with all those Hebrew believers around, so few responded. Later in
life, Jesus spoke: “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was
for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:14).
And with Joseph and Mary it was the shepherds in the
nearby hills who had ears to hear, and came to worship the savior of the world,
the light of God, the gift of purity, excellence, and everlasting life right
before their eyes in this tiny baby; a baby so perfect, how could he not be the
most astonishing and beautiful baby those shepherds had ever seen in their
lives?
And the shepherds were even blessed with a host of angels
showing up in all their majesty, “a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men’” (Luke 2: 13b-14). An amazing episode for the shepherds and for
Mary and Joseph, too!
This story makes me think of one of the names for God from
the Old Testament, Jehovah-jireh, the God who sees and provides. And indicated
in this name is that He provides the uncommon, the unusual, the unexpected. Certainly,
the shepherds didn’t expect angels, and Mary and Joseph didn’t expect a group
of shepherds to show up and be so excited about the birth of their son. But
that’s how wonderfully our God works.
The first place this name, Jehovah-jireh, is used is with
Abraham (Gen. 22:1-14), when God asked if he was willing to sacrifice his son
Isaac, and because Abraham was in covenant with God and had total trust in Him,
he got as far as pulling out his knife! But Jehovah-jireh, the God who sees and
provides, stopped Abraham, and gave him a ram to sacrifice instead.
When none of their Hebrew brethren in Bethlehem recognized
Joseph and Mary’s anointing, our God, Jehovah-jireh, saw and provided the most
unusual greeting. The shepherds came and they even got to experience the
existence of a host of magnificent angels!
When it seems like sometimes there is no room at the inn
for us, we never despair, because God sees our hearts committed to Him in the
best way we know how, and He does not forget His covenant with us. Jehovah-jireh
sees and provides.
“Oh
that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
of men!” (Psa.107:8).
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Love, Carolyn
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